in the evening

the evenings pass quickly for horsemouth. one moment it is five to six and horsemouth is wondering what to do with himself (and contemplating watching the news), the next it is 10.30pm and horsemouth has the duvet up over his chin and is contemplating 'going to bed'.  by 'going to bed' he means giving up on watching youtube and attempting to read and such like and actually going to sleep instead (the purpose for which beds were invented). .

then he will turn out the bedside light. move the pillows from the corner of the bed where they are used to support him sitting up so he can read into the middle of the bed so they can support his weary head while he sleeps. 

this part of the day tends to get neglected. in the morning horsemouth blogs (so of course he tells you about his mornings because the material is at hand). the evenings are much alike because they are a planned decline into inactivity and sleep. there may be a bit of tv upstairs in the living room if there's a film on. 

cooking and eating has assumed more importance with horsemouth since the pandemic - when he couldn't just go out and get a loaf of bread or a bag of chips without fearing death. last night horsemouth ate some pasta that he cooked using the last of the courgettes (than you godly charity dudes) and the remainder of the chili myk gave him from the allotment (cheers dude), the onion was from horsemouth's father (thank you dad), the kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, pasta and quorn mince from aldi (thank you aldipersons).  

horsemouth tries to avoid tea after 6pm in the evening. coffee he only has in the morning (unless he is going to a meeting or something). he tries to eat early (he believes it gives your body a better chance to burn off the food and so it is less likely to be stored as fat).  

the curtains horsemouth draws closed when it goes dark (or when he remembers).  there is a street light just outside his bedroom window so the curtains have to be drawn to avoid disturbing his sleep (and similarly to avoid him being woken up by the dawn's early light  in the months when that happens at an ungodly hour). . 

before sleep (and while hunting around on youtube) horsemouth found a few clips from the karen dalton documentary including one of nick cave praising something's on your mind by karen dalton as 'perfect'.  there is another version of the song by her that attempts to take it in a pop single direction and it's worth checking out precisely to convince yourself of the perfection of the main take, the one we know. 

yesterday NHSs and electricians - today more electricians. outside it is rainy and grey. 

there are of course a parallels between marguerite duras and karen dalton, both were exceptionally beautiful in their youth, a beauty later ravaged by harsh lives, both were alcoholics.  the surviving footage of karen from a french documentary features her at home. duras focuses on the domestic and on writing (these are the elements horsemouth finds most interesting in her work).